Railway-signal.



W. H. JORDAN & G. T. HANOHETT. RAILWAY SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1907.

910,387. Patented Jan. 19,1909.-

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WILLIAA ll. JORDAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND GEORGE T. HANCHETT, OF HACKER- SAOK, NEW JER "ET, ASSlG-NORS TO JORDAN A'Ul OMATIC SIGNAL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK,

N. A OORPOR-ATION OF NEW YORK.

RAILWAY-SZGNAL.

No. 910,387. Specification of Original application filed June 14 1905, Serial No. 265,

Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

Serial No. 376,675.

To all whom iii/may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM H. Jon- DAN, a citizen of the United States, residiin in Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State 01' fi-Newi-Y rlr, and Gnonon T. l lnuonsr'r, a citizen of the United States, residing in the town of Haclrensaclr, county o'l' Bergen, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway- Signals, o'l-which the following is a description. I

This is a division 01' an application for atent iiledhy us on June-1 L, 1905, Serial o. 265,209. 7 1 Our invention relates to that class of sigline used upon electric railways which derive. theii' power from the some source as-that employed to propel the cars, hut-the invent-ion maybe applied to'steam roads or to electric roadswith tli eesignals actuated by current other thsnthat used to propel the cars,

I The objects we have in view are, the production ol'means i'or actuating the semaphore in a danger or safety position as may be desired; the insuring that the different mechanisms will promptlyrespond, to the signals; and the provision for actuating the signals irrespective of the voltage on the line. We attain these objects by'thc mechani in illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure l is a View of a portion of the apparetus in use. Fig, 2 is a die-grammatical f view of three stations, showing the circuits, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the action of the actuating solenoids.

in all the views like parts are designated by the same reference characters.

The motive power oi the device comprises two magnets or coils, pre'l'eraoly of the solenoid ty pe, set opposite to each other and .acting upon the same plunger or core. One

of these magnets, when energized pulls the .ilunger in one direction, and the other pulls it in the opposite direction, the motion of the Elonger being transmitted by appropriate to a semaphore or other er al.

Th1" ost 11 carries the two actuating solen- S in op ,osed relation and actuor A see Fig. 2). In the or entof 'the invention i us id D is designed to More g brim";

the plunger to actuate the signal 12 and move it to the danger position, the solenoid S acting in the opposite-direction. to move it to the safety position. Each solenoid is connected to the circuit in such a manner, as will he described, as to first energize the solenoid D, causing it to attract the plunger and move the signal to the danger position; upon the car iass ng the danger point, the circuit will be completed through the solenoid S, energizing it and retracting the plunger, causing the signal to move to the safety. position. The boxes 11 are placed at suitable intervals, and the solenoids D and S are connocted to circuit closers upon the trolley wire or at other oints, as may be desired, in such s; manner that each of the solenoids D will be first energized momentarily to cause the attraction of the plunger A just as the car is entering the danger zone, and at the proper point the solenoid S will he energized and the plungeia retracted.

Vi e have found in practice that solenoids which are properly wound to handle the high voltage of street railway practice, retain such an amount of residual magnetism-that the opposing solenoid cannot at tract the plunger against such residual magnetism during the short period 01 time which it is energizes, We have provided means for eliminating this residual magnetism. Such means preferably comprises additional coils surrounding the main coils and adapted to he energized at the proper time. in Fig. Zthese coils are shown amidesignotea by the characters l) and D The coil l) surrounds the coil S, and the coil D surrounds the coil 1), These coils are preferably connected in series in such a manner that the coil D will he energized simultaneously with dlie coil D, anahthc coil D will be energized simultaneously with the coil S.

Zis' illustrative ol the manner of connecting a number of dillerent signal stations; three are shown indicated by the characters 64, 5.5, and 66. The car will pass-in the di- "rection. of the arrow, that is, from the right to the left. Upon reaching the contact shoe E the current will pass along the wire W to the demagnetizin-g coil of the danger magnet of the station behind it (not shown) and throu hthe msin coil of the safety magnet 105.

of sucrrststion settin the. parts to the safet I o e n position. The current will branch and pass through the demagnetizing coil D of the sta tion 64 and also through the main danger coil D at such station setting the parts to danger. They will remain in such position until the trolley comes in contact with the circuit closer E". The current will then pass through the wire \V', through the demag n'gtizing coil D and through the safety coil S i of the station 64, which will move the semaphore and target oi such station to safety. At the same time the current will ass through the de'i'nagnetizin coil D and L anger coil D of the station (30 moving the parts to the danger position. The same action will be repeatedwhen the trolley reaches the contact E the current passing over the wire W and through the dcmagnetizing coil D and safety coil S of the station 65 setting the parts to safety and at the same time will ass the demagnetizing coil D and an- P of the station 66 setting the parts zeta hosts i I n electric railway L vary F of sucl 2 a have iound that systems the electric pressure widely, stim'etimes as much as fifty-per cent?" R to be and in order that the magnets shall be oper ative at any of the pressures wise-1'- ,may ex line obtains.

ist on the line they are so designed that at the lowest possible line pressure which is p used theircoresviiLalways remain saturated, Under this condition itis evident that any highe't' pres ure will produce no difference in the magnet;tenemen by this construction the signal is iiirbiid to work reliably upon all of the pressures which are found in practice.

Fi 3 illustrates a'chart indicating the construction of themagnet. 67 represents 40 abscissaeandbS ordinates, the abscissae representing difference of 'oter'itia'l and the or dinates magnetism. resents the stages of magnetism resulting from certain pressures. This curve rises gradually up toa point of complete Saturn: tion, and then becomes nearlyhorizontal, as between the points 71 and 72. This line represents the point of" complete saturation, anything below such line being the point of incon'iplcte saturation. The ordinary form of anagnet is adapted to be operative in stages oi incomplete saturation, as between the points .73 and 71. At the point 73 there may be insullicient magnetism to actuate' the moving parts of the semaphore.

Tie curve -70 rep- I 550 volts. If the signaling magnet is so constructed that its core shall be saturated when its potential bobbins have a voltage I of 250, their action magnetically will not be materially different when the voltage is 500. It is true that the principal part of the curve which rates the flux and which in turn is a function of the magnetic pull is not quite parallel to the axis of the abscissae, but it is nearly so, and if the magnet be designed 1 to be saturated at 250 volts, its magnetic action will be substantially the same as at all higher voltages. It on the other hand, as has been common heretofore, the magnet is designed so to work when the'rated so voltage of the line, 550 or 500 volts, as the case may be, is impressed upon it, then when 230 volts are on the line, the magnet not being saturated, will work on the steep part of the-curve, between 73 and 71, and will rap dly fall influx to a much lower value, and is extremely likely to faihto operate. Th s 13 a very real trouble which we have encountered ourselves, and which h sa" b e encountered before, and which is obviated by the device of designing the magnet so. as

g -turated or nearly so at the time that E rtentral ever found upon the A glute. saturation and aprb'x ate saturation. ate Impossible of specific definition, but'for the pUI'P- O illustration, the following tab e' is appended. The lowest potential that obtains on the line will produce in the operative magnets the following flux values per square inch with different materials:

Annealed. Wrought iron i- 100,000 lines 50ft cast iron ss 97.500 Mitis iron 90,000 Cast iron containing 6.5% aluminum. 45,000 Ordinary cast iron- 40,000

results in a very large expenditure of energy for a proportionately small additional mag- 12-0 By our invention-we arrange the magnets nctic result. F or this reason, under ordito operate between the. points 71 and 72, nary designs, this is not resorted to, and any 65 tags varies very widely from about 250 to l 0 devicecontaining over-saturated magnets would, under ordinary circumstances, bev

considered to be. poor design and ill-advised.

We believe that the discovery of the fact that intense saturation was a desirable fea ture in the case of signal magnetsworking on l varying voltages because thereby constancy f action was assured, is a very. ,imporlines to the square centimeter; in other their mznqnets and heal not yet conceived the wrought iron densities; we soon found that in greatly reduced volt-age the magnets were inoperative. Vi e then conceived the idea enormou saturating the magnet and iound that under these conditions the magnets opei led substantial y the same, no matter ho the yoll tage 'aried. This was acconuilislied at the l expense of extra power and additional copper in winding which ordinarily would not need to be employed, and was departure from the set rules of designing magnets which in this case had peculiar beneficial application. We also observed that other designers were having similar troubles with idea, of eye '-sctu1ul'ing them to gain these ends. l e therefore consider that this device is by no means obvious and cannot be reached except by experiment and. research.

In designing an electric magnetic device of any kind, the designer is naturullylcd to produce a design which gives a maximum result with a minimum expenditure of eleetrio energy and ordinarily over-saturation is considered, a needless extravagance.

On page 8'? of Thompson. on llfl'zgnet'lc Principles, he states that it is not economical in B (magnetic saturation) beyond 16,000

words, be cautious the designer against extreme saturation, which is the departure from the ordinary practice which this invention employs. 1

In electric railway work, the working Voltage is supposed to be 500 to 55d and the dyncmos supplying the power are constent potential or compound generaton. An engineer, designing signals and having had ex' erience in railway work, is apt to figure t let the potential of the trolley line is 500 or 559 volts, and will forget the feet that many lines on which sigi' s are necessary are fed by wires which are inadequate in capacity, and in which there is 8. large loss oi ol'tge. I j

in peso of Thompson 2-. worlr, before referred to with reference 0 the Design of magnets, prescribes "17 magnetic cores 75,060 to it: lines pauare inch it 01' coo to 100,000 steel or cast steel or wrougnt l for malr'ng magnet yoles, it

sacee to should iron. if a d m in coustruatiquestion, he would be very unreliable o modern e re ducti oi and p' rely inopcrm tags, although fen by lnompto follow under tive on V reductions o it is conceded that the ru. son the proper ordinary circumstanc 1.

The following" examples of electromagnetic apparatus containing electromagnets dependout for the r current upon the magnitude of l the line potential and designed in the usual tion point at normal working voltage. Automatic cutouts in connection with signal lumps used on shipboard, made by the Fisher Electric Company and installed on board the boots of the Minnesota Steamship Company, adapted when a filament broke to open the circ it and ring a bell, gave continuous trouble by opening the circuit whenever the dynamo voltage happened to be reduced 15% or 20%, due to the fact that the magnets were not sufficiently over magnetized at normal oltage. Other cases are no doubt abundant. i

By the statement saturation it is not intended to that absolute saturation is theoretically possible, that is to say, a point beyond which there would be absolutely no increase in magnetic lines for increase in current, but the intention to convey is, that a point can be reached practically so that to all intents and purposes the performonce is the same as if absolute saturation were obtained. That is the common parlance in speaking of electromagnets, the absolute point for wrought iron being fixed at about 130,000 lines to the square inch.

It is quite true that Thompson states that it is the usual practice to design cores so that they can be utilized beyond the bend of the curve, but the point that he has reference to is immediately beyond the bend of the curve, so that a, very small reduction in magnetizing power will drop the magnetism to the steep part of the curve where great reductions in magnetism will follow small reductions in current. By our invention, on the other hand, the magnets are raisedto a. point far beyond the bend of the curve so that a considerable reduction of current does not move the abscissa ol' magnetizing power for enough back toward the origin so that the ordinate is materially shortened. It may also be pointed out that to cleim the impossibility oi complete scturction is ultratechnical and comparable with the final value of our in circuit. It is well known to no clans that the current in an clec c c suit which at certain electromotive iorce has been applied never reaches final ere-using no matter how long said electromctivc force may be applied. Practically,

"value but is continually inmg magnets, after a certain magnetizing; the v subsequent magnetizing force force has been reached growth due to additional is practically insignificant.

By the term ever,saturated magnets, we mean some degree approximating complete saturation, but it is to be understood that there are certain points in magnetization of iron and steel which are considered complete saturation, and an r forcing of magnetizing force beyond this point 18 commonly known as over saturation. For instance, on page 313 of Wzemcrs Dynamo Electric ih'a cl'itnes, is given a table of materials and their practical working densities, the practical lirrit of magnetization and of absolute saturation. The absolute saturation iigures are as follows:

l/Vrought iron- 130,000 Cast steel- 127,50O Mitis iron 'i22,500

Cast iron containing 6.5%

of aluminum "87,500 Ordinary cast iron 77,5OO

Difl'erent writers differ as to what this I point of absolute saturation is, but this meaning is well understood by those who are i familiar with the art.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have described ciple of our invention, together with the apparatus which we now the prin- I l l Similarly in magnetizconsider to represent the best embodiment thereof; but we desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is merely illustrative and that the invention can be carried out in other way Having now described our invention, what u. e claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent isz' 1. in a railroad signal operated by electromagnetic means, the combination with a movable element of the signal, of an aotuat ing bobbin and a core, a separate deinagnetizing coil wouinl upon the actuating bobbin and connected to the circuit, the said demagnetizing coil being so proportio 'I when energized it will relieve the core which it is wound of any residuary 1.1. tism which it may contain, and direct me chanical connect-ions between the core and the signal element to move the latter by the direct movement of the former.

2. In a railroad signal operated by electro magnetic means, the combination with pair of opposed magnets, a plunger connecting the cores of such magnets, signaling means actuated by the movements of the plunger, and a dernagnetizing coil for each of said magnets, and connected with a source of electricity for simultaneously energizing a magnet and the demagnetizing coil of the WILLIAM H. JORDAN. ,enonen T. HANCHETT.

Witnesses: 4

JUNIUs T. HANCHETT, WM, G. OTTERBAOK. 

